Posted on 09/07/2012 4:51:50 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Los Angeles--Environmentalists in this greenest of places call the California Environmental Quality Act the state's most powerful environmental protection, a model for the nation credited with preserving lush wetlands and keeping condominiums off the slopes of the Sierra Nevada.
But increasingly, the landmark law passed in 1970 has also been abused, opening the door to lawsuits - sometimes brought by business competitors or for reasons unrelated to the environment - which, regardless of their merit, can delay even green development projects for years or sometimes kill them completely.
"Something is broken," said Leron Gubler, president of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. "A lot of jobs could have been saved if not for these lawsuits, as well as new jobs once these projects were completed."
Gubler said lawsuits and the threat of litigation had delayed at least seven recent projects in Hollywood, costing the area more than 6,000 jobs.
In one of those Hollywood projects, the developers of a mixed-use retail and residential project won a lawsuit against its building plans, but the owners declared bankruptcy and sold before the ruling. Work has finally begun under new ownership, but another lawsuit has been filed......
.....And it is not only big projects that are litigation targets......
Last month, Michael J. Rubio, a Democrat in the state Senate, introduced a bill that would have overhauled enforcement of the law. Although the bill was killed within 24 hours, he said he would try again next year.
...."It wasn't reform: It was gutting the law," said David Pettit, a lawyer with the Natural Resources Defense Council. "The California Environmental Quality Act as we've known it for many years protecting the environment would go away in favor of a checklist approach."...
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
The anti-business commiecrats in Sacramento have successfully killed the chance for new jobs with this obsession of a clean everything.
Wonder how anything will get paid for when they drive out ALL industries?
The NRDC is the most corrupt and powerful corporate "green" lobby in California, by far. They owned Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The Environmentalists' Police and Welfare States ....."the ecological struggle is, in its present form, an indispensable dimension of the struggle against capitalism." "All production is destruction." "The earth is not naturally hospitable to humankind.""The struggle for different technologies is essential for a different society." ....
The Society of Environmental Journalism - "The mission of the Society of Environmental Journalists is to strengthen the quality, reach and viability of journalism across all media to advance public understanding of environmental issues."
BTT and for later.
One more reason people are leaving California in droves.
What a shame such a beautiful place has been completely frigged up by a bunch of mentally diseased wackos.
“mentally diseased wackos” = LIBERALS
Anybody bought a dishwasher in the last year? They are terrible! They take 3 hours to run a cycle, so if there are more than 2 people in your household or if you have company, be prepared to wash lots of dishes by hand to keep up. How does this save energy, water, or anything else? And what about the value of a person’s time?
Enviro-whackos are leading us to third world living conditions and that hurts the environment! What a bunch of morons. The only societies that care about clean air and water are capitalist ones.
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